Packaging for manufactured goods serves multiple purposes including creating a sufficiently favorable impression in the customer to influence the selection of the goods for purchase, protecting the goods from damage during transit, identifying the manufacturer, and conveying a message from the manufacturer. In today's market place, and especially in retail sales where a plurality of choices exist, packaging takes on major importance because the purchase decision is often based solely on the packaging.
The first problem with contemporary packaging, and probably the most significant, is how to fulfill all of the various purposes for packaging while maintaining the flexibility to make last minute changes in the package design, keeping the cost of the packaging as low as possible, and sustaining a uniform but distinctive packaging appearance for products of different shapes and sizes.
It is apparent that although there are a myriad of packaging shapes, colors, and materials, there is still a need for an approach that satisfactorily meets the needs of a product manufacturer in a competitive market place.